Run And Hide
by Kimiz
Summary: "I promise to stop running, if you stop hiding." NaruHina post-confession.


**A/N: **Hey! So here is ANOTHER post-confession scene. I know you're all probably tired of them, but the thing is… I read this… AMAZING story called "Uninvited", and I loved it so much it was canon to me. And I constantly went back to read it again because it was pure awesomeness. But when I tried to find it the other day, I couldn't! And it made me sad, because I was really in a post-confession NaruHina mood. So I wrote this little thing. If you happen to know the story, and if by chance something here happens to look a little like that one, MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES! It's completely coincidental, it was never my intention, but it might have slipped. And dear author I don't remember the name, if you EVER come across this pathetic little attempt at NaruHina, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PUT THE FIC BACK UP! I LOVED IT!

**Summary: **I promise to stop running, if you stop hiding. NaruHina

**Run And Hide**

Their eyes crashed. They stared at each other for a full second. And then she turned on her heels to flee.

"Wait!" his desperate voice reached her ears, forcing her to stand still. She just couldn't stand the pained sound of his words. "Please, wait. Don't run… Please. Don't run away from me." Slowly, she supressed her instincts to run away and flipped on her heels.

He was staring at her, with his big blue eyes filled with hope and aprehension. His face contorted in a troubled frown. There was a storm brewing in his summer sky eyes. He stood a meter away, shoulders slumped and eyebrows scrunched together and he looked so sad, so vulnerable, so not him that she wanted to step forward and hold him; but she wanted to run too. The mouse in her wanted to scurry away and hide from the rain.

"That day… That day when you…" he choked on his words, his chin lowered as he stared at her with those crystal eyes that pierced right through her soul. She looked away; to the side, to the ground, as away as she could from the weight of his stare. "You… You said you loved me."

She felt the air leave her lungs. She remembered that day. She remembered that insane, fearless girl jumping in the middle of the fight to defend the boy she loved. She remembered the surge of courage as she boldly declared her reasons for such a move. _"Because… I love you."_ She had said. She remembered the pain too, the excrutiating pain that followed her pathetic confession, but she had been happy. Happy because she had actually been on the spotlight for once. She had stood in front of him, and his eyes were on her, his wonderfully blue eyes wide and terrified and she was so marvelously happy that she could die knowing she wasn't as insignificant for him as the little voice in the back of her mind told her as if forced her to stay planted on her feet and watch him from afar. She had been pleased, proud, to die with that last moment of courage. Maybe sometime in the future, when they glanced at the village records they'd find it enough to redeem a life of cowardice. She was smiling as the black of unconsciousness embraced her.

And then, to her horror, she woke up.

"I… I…" she stuttered, feet unconsciously slipping back, as if she started walking really slowly he wouldn't notice she was getting away from him. His uncertain voice cut through her escape.

"Did you… Did you… Mean it?" the doubt in his words was enough to light a fire inside her. Something she had hardly ever felt during her life, especially when it came to him.

How dared he, how dared he doubt her? Her, that watched him her entire life, that cheered him on in the distance, that dedicated her life to making sure that smile never left his face. How dared he, when all she did was train to be useful to him, practice in the mirror to hold down her blush and stammering, force herself to go against her instincts and step forward to try and walk up to him when every muscle in her body screamed at her to flee? How dared he doubt her words, when everything she did was to get closer to him, to be able to reach out and walk beside him one day?

She was angry. She was actually angry.

But then she looked up at him, and he looked hurt, wary. It took her a second to realize he was _scared. _He was scared she was joking, lying, making fun of him. And thinking about the kind of treatment he had gone through in his early age, was it really that much of a surprise that he couldn't trust her when she said she loved him? She deflated instantly. The little voice was lashing out at her again. Why would he believe her anyway, when she had always hid behind trees and walls whenever he came around? How could he, when she stuttered so much it took more time than he had to spare to get her point across? How could he have any idea she felt so much when the moment he smiled she fainted?

She wished she had died that day.

"Hinata… I need you to tell me. Because… I have… No idea, what to make of… This." He stammered with emotion.

"That day…" her voice was so small she wasn't sure he could hear it, but she couldn't bring herself to speak louder. "That day… I thought I was going to die." She said finally, tears threatening to bubble up in her eyes, voice fading to nothing. She hoped he could understand what she said between the lines, she hoped he could understand that in the end, she was just a little mouse, a little mouse that turned into a ferocious tiger to protect her loved one, pushed forward by the prospect of imminent death, but once death wasn't there to catch her fall anymore, she had shrunk back to her original form. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to break her heart, but when he said nothing, she opened them and stared at him.

His mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were wide and incredulous, and glistening with… Tears. When he spoke, his voice cracked.

"And you jumped in anyway?"

She didn't know what to say. She hadn't been thinking when she did that. All she knew was she couldn't bear the thought of losing him, life without his big blue eyes, his shining smile. And she was selfish. She was so selfish. She had wanted to be the one to save him, she had wanted him to look at her, and for once not ask her why she was turning red, for once not run away because she took too long with her stammering, for once not have something more important to do than look at her. To her, she was just selfish. But he was looking at her as if she had done something amazing, like she was amazing, and it as making her feel breathless, and her heart was beating faster, and things around her were starting to spin. She simply shrugged, because she couldn't think of anything to say that could explain it without it ending with her passed out on the forest floor.

He looked down for a second, a single sob rocked his shoulders.

"How long… Have you…?" she wrapped her arms around herself.

"The Academy. Before. Ever since I can remember." He sobbed again, looking up at her with blurry eyes. He was completely desolate.

"Why… Why didn't you tell me?"

It took her a moment to realize she had started crying too.

"I… I…" she stuttered. "It was you who… You who made me… Get up in the mornings." she said with a watery smile. "And keep fighting. Because I… I wanted to be like you… I longed for you determination, your strength… I just wanted to…" she choked in her tears, breathing, forcing herself to speak, because if she didn't tell him now she never would. "All my life, I did all I could… To be closer to you. I was… So… Terrified. Of you. Rejecting me. I could handle it from anyone… But… I didn't think… I could stand it if you rejected me too."

They were both sobbing quietly now, his head was lowered and his tears ran down his cheeks, his fists were clenched. Her heart clenched painfully, and she braced herself for what was certain to come. She bit her lips to try and contain her sobs, arms around herself, nails digging in the skin. She had been preparing herself for this moment ever since she woke up in the hospital. She was supposed to die that day, it would have saved her from the suffering that would follow in a few minutes, the one thing she had avoided her whole life, the one thing that had kept her love behind sealed lips. It had been one of her worst nightmares growing up, but she felt strangely calm now that it was to happen. She felt in peace. He knew now, and if she didn't get her happy ending, well, at least she wouldn't have to live with what ifs. She supposed a spoken rejection was better than the eternal wondering. Maybe with time the throbbing in her heart would become dull enough for her to forget about it.

"It's okay…" she looked away, a soft smile shining through her tears. "I'm… I'm stronger now. I think… I know. I know I can handle it now." His head snapped up back to her, eyes wide and scared.

"No!" She forced herself to keep her smile, but it was hard to when her insides were twisting into knots. It was kind of him to not want to reject her directly, but she wished he would just put and end to her misery. Didn't he realize that his kindness would just hurt her more?

"I'll be fine…" she started, but he shook his head frantically, stepping forward. She jumped back in old habits, but before she could escape, he shot forward and grabbed her hands.

"No! I… All my life… All I wanted… And you were right over there…" She couldn't hold the smile anymore. She couldn't, not with him rubbing salt to her wounds. She tried to pull away, but he kept his grip. His eyes burned into hers, lighting up with a warmth she had never seen before. "Hinata, I would never… I could never…" he smiled through the tears. "I guess we're both a little stupid. I was always running off, and you were always hiding behind trees… Maybe if I hadn't run so much, if you hadn't hid so much.." He cut himself off. He sighed deeply, gripping her hands tighter, intertwining their fingers together. She looked up, surprise etched in her tearstained face. "I can't say… I love you back." He said finally, and she smiled wryly, pulling back, but he just gripped her hands tighter. "I can't say it. I don't want to lie to you. You don't deserve it. The last thing I want is to hurt you." He looked into her eyes, an impossible tenderness showing in his. "I know you've already waited too long… But could you possibly… Wait a little more? Could you give me time, give me a chance… To fall in love with you?"

The tiger inside her burst to life, cornering the little mouse that had ruled for sixteen years, forcing him out through the tears in her heart. She could almost feel it stitching itself up again. Suddenly she wanted to laugh. There she was in the middle of a forest while the love of her life asked her to give him a second chance. It just made her want to throw her head forward and laugh crazily like she never had before; laugh at their red faces and swollen eyes, at the absurdity of the whole situation, but most of all, she wanted to laugh with happiness, because this was what she had dreamed of her entire life, and her dreams had never made her feel as light-headed as she was now. It was a bit like she felt seconds before fainting, when she lost balance and it felt like she was flying for a moment before the black consumed her. But her feet were firmly planted on the ground, her heart was the only thing flying.

She knew it wasn't a promise, she couldn't make him fall in love with her, but it was a chance, it was an answer to her hope. It was all she had been asking for for years.

She nodded, tears bubbling up again, and she couldn't help the quick laugh that escaped along with the sobs. He smiled softly, chuckling too, loosening his grip on her arms. Before she could look up at him though, his own closed around her as his chin rested on top of her head. Her eyes closed, she leaned her forehead against his chest, grinning to herself and thinking that if _this_ was what felt like to be brave, she'd never go back to the trees.

"I promise to stop running… If you stop hiding."

Yes, she could do that.

A/N: FINALLY! A NaruHina! I love the couple and I've NEVER written anything with them, can you believe it?


End file.
